Cerebral Palsy Party Day 11: Party activities part one,

       What Children's party  is complete  without  activities,

  This weeks  posts are are about activities.  This  ties in nicely to   UCP's  campaign Cerebral Palsy Can.   Click on the link  for more information. So day  one  of this activity party is  voting.   I can  vote  just like anyone else and have  views  on  national  issues.










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Cerebral Palsy Party day ten - Birthday Cards - Learning to read with CP

   So today post is  birthday   cards.   These are important because without them you wouldn't know who the present is  from.

 Todays post will be recycled post I did   on learning how to  read with Cerebral Palsy. This was originally  a three part  series  but these post will all be below


 Part  one

   Let me  start out by saying that I love to read.    It should be no surprise.  These next few  post   will be about how  I learned to  read.  I   read   in a way dispute  never learning  phonics .    Well  not in the traditional way.  I  know what the letters  are supposed to sound like  but   producing those sounds is a different  story.  This  is  due to   Cerebral  Palsy.  Not all   people with CP   have speech  issues.    They  range  from   no problems to   using     speech  devices to  talk.     I  would  classify myself  as   somewhere in the middle.    I  do not need a speech device  but sometimes people do not understand me.  This  can get  frustrating.   I do  a lot  of substituting   which  means that    I  would  say cat   as  "tat"   or  dog as  dod.  I  also  do this  for L's and R  which  i  replace with a  W.   Let me  make this  really  clear the reason  for my lack of substituting sounds has nothing to  do with intelligence. I am  smart  just see  Monday's  post.  Now   I hear myself fine  and understand myself  100 percent of  the time.   Now this sounds contradictory but despite being able to  hear    all the sounds    so  I can sound out  words  I am a bad speller. Not sure why  this is    but  I  would like to be a better speller and I want to  take a spelling class in the  near future.    Anyway  this  might seem  that  I  would be  a uphill battle to  make me understand  reading  but  it really wasn't.( at least that's not what I remember) 

        I  hated  learning  phonics  for me   it was  a reminder to me that I was 'different' in fact  I  remember being told that by my teachers,     For parents of kids  with articulation  delays  do not stress  phonics.  It is helpful to know phonics  but  it is not required.   Model the  sounds  read to your kids   but  do not  stress   hearing the phonics  from them.    People  who  are non verbal can still read as well  as long as people    know how to teach them.

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chart http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/sound_dev_chart.jpg

bookwormhttp://www.sewterific.com/images/BacktoSchool/BTSBookwormLove.jpg

  Part Two 

    Growing up   my family had a lot of  kids book  lying around  our house.    Among with the Disney   we had  lots  of    step into  reading books .    Out of  all of them  the book  I  remember  reading for the first time  was Tiger is  a Scaredy Cat.  

  Looking back    I say it was a sad  irony that I  remember  this  book   as  I  deal with  fear.      But that was  my 'first independent book.     I also have memories   of  reading this book in  pre  K.  

    Do you remember your first book        What books are/were your    kids   favorite ,

 Got image from http://www.scholastic.com/content5/media/products/63/9780394880563_xlg.jpg

 Post  three 

   I was recently asked  what my  least favorite  letter/ sound  is  and after  much thought i  think it is C

 I  have been  working on C   for a long  time.     It  has been  hard   work  and  i have memories of trying to say  Car  cat cookie    instead of  Tar tat  tootie.  

 Do not be fooled by the Graphic "c" is  a hard soud

 I  remember in  K  my teacher  had this  phonics book  of  letters in the alphabet.  I was  in a mainstreamed class    and   I  remember  her introducing the  C book and  explaining  the  sound and adding    you  should be able to  say it.  I remember asking her why  I could not  say  C and  being  told  I was different,



  Inclusion also  did wonders  for my  reading ability.    If you have not watched my inclusion story   you  can  watch it below.














      Happy  Friday   guys.   I have a basketball tournament  this weekend, so my parents   and  I  will be  staying at a hotel  near the game site tonight. It should be  fun.  Tune  in next week for  more .

Cerebral Palsy Party Day nine Noise makers : Reflections on drool,

            I have lots of memories of  blowing  noise makers at birthday parties. These were very fun and kept us  kids occupied while  annoying   the parents .

 Today's  post will be about drool.




I am a  twenty three year old college student.   I   am  really  good at  sports.    I also drool  somedays.   I  drool because of my  CP.   I have a speech impairment  and a hard time   controlling my silva.  When I was younger Princess used to  give me a hard time on  drooling.  She  hated it because it  was  gross.    I  had always thought that I  was the only one who  had  saliva until   I learned about the digestive system in  fifth grade.

   Drooling never really bothered me that much  growing up until   someone   made a comment saying that was  gross.      Since then I have been  really  self conscious about drooling.   When  I drooled   on a   test    a few weeks ago  I apologized   profusely.  the professor was really understanding and told me no worries.

    One thing that  I  would like  people to do  when  I drool  is to  be  patient, and understanding and try not to judge.   Don't  pity me or assume that I  do not understand things because   I  am  very smart.     I  just happen to drool,



 image from http://www.promo-wholesale.com/Upfiles/Prod_i/16--Party-Blowouts_20090773241.jpg

Cerebral Palsy party day eight : Party hats - General information on CP.

  Today's theme is  party hats.

  Cerebral  Palsy is caused by  damage to the brain  is what   most  people will see disabilities  merrily
as.  I  say  its a stroke of uniqueness.  CP  did affect my brain but    it  also gave me a unique way of being on this earth( more info  coming March 25) .   Everybody seems to know me around town and I think  Cerebral Palsy  is part of the reason  that I am  Unforgettable.  This song  played  when I was being born.   I have been unforgettable ever sense.    

 For more general information  please  click here.



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Cerebral Palsy Party day seven, Front door service : A rant about the importance of being on time to school

          Some  people chose to have their parties at home.    I  had many of childhood birthday parties at home especially  as a toddler.   Now a days people tend to dress up their  front doors to invite guest into their homes

    Something else that comes to the door  daily for many kids with disabilities  weekdays are school buses.   I used to be a rider on these said buses  as a pre school student.  So my memories of them are fuzzy.   I have heard  way too many stories about buses being very late to pick up kids with disabilities.  I am not talking about five minutes or even  ten  minutes late  I am  talking about   45 minutes to an hour late.


    Now  imagine  if you will if this  was a school bus  for   general education students.   I went to an elementary  school that bused kids in from  out of area to the school.  For the most part they were on time,  In fact the school would   announce  on the intercom if the bus was  running late, it was an nor  a  a daily occurrence if the bus was late.  The sad thing is that school buses for people  with disabilities are often times very late in picking them  up.   This happens pretty regularly too.     This is not fair.

Bus companies please  respect  disabled students education and get them to school on time.    It is so important because  they  need the instructional
time  in school like their  able bodied  counterparts.

 My  friend  Cara   wrote something about   the short bus.  Its  great.  You can   read it here 

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Cerebral Palsy Party Day 6 Food

 Food.  Whats a party without food  right.   After all  you sing Happy  Birthday    in front of a cake.

  Todays post will be about   how to make cafeteria;s more accessible to people with CP.    Now  I have  been in two schools with a cafeteria.    My two colleges.   My  junior college was awesome in accessibility.  They even  cut up  my  pancakes for me  when I get  breakfast on  campus.   The private college was not so  great.  One   thing they could have done better was  the pizza.   At my junior college  pizza  is in a box which makes it really easy to  grab  and  get in  line. The private college had pizza on a platter which you have to serve yourself.   This is  very  hard for  me because my  hands are  not that strong,   I have to ask  people  to help me, happily they have been willing to help me.

 Ordering  food  is also  a challenge for me. Although  I have  improved my speech  quite a bit,   I can be hard to understand at times.  One  way  I can  get around this is by writing it down on the notes section on  my I Phone   or  trying to repeat it  using  my best articulation.  When  I  am on break at work  I   usually grab  a personal pizza  or   an  pre made sandwich to save time.

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Day five How to get to the party (Biking Ceep edition)

 Today's topic is transportation.


            So  how do you get  to the party?"  Where you  drive or ride bikes  or  take a bus
. Today  I am  going to talk to you about Bikes.

       Bikes are really important to a child's independence.  It allows  people to get from point A to point  B   faster then walking.  Plus its  great excise and saves the planet.

  Third Grade Bike Award for biking down to the water temple and back
   2001 

    People with CP have some more challenges to riding a bike.  This is due to poor balance.   Balance issues are  common for ceeps. Some people with mild CP can  ride  a  traditional bike  while others need adapted bike.


  For me, I  rode a bike  with training wheels  til  I was almost 12.  The older I  got, the harder it was to ride with  training bike. What made  it harder was when my two  younger sisters got two wheel bikes   while I  had a bike with training wheels.



       A  few  weeks  before I  started middle school, I got  a new bike.   It was the 3e trike.  The

  My Bike    Fall 2003

people who built the world's fastest bike    also built my bike. I love my bike  and I can  ride for a long time without getting tired.   The one bad thing is that  it  has been broken since 2010.   I  really miss riding  my bike.



   Because my bike has been broken for a while,  I am thinking about trying to buy  a new bike  called mobo.   It looks  really  cool and I have seen it in action when an athlete rode it to Special Olympics  golf practice this past summer.





 Happy  Friday everyone tune in  next week for Week two.   Have a great weekend,